Bali police arrest hoodlums in mining site
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
Police on the resort island of Bali have arrested four armed men who terrorized and physically threatened villagers working at a sand and pebble mining site in Klungkung regency.
The armed men had forced hundreds of residents at Gunaksa village in the Dawan area, some 40 kilometers east of Denpasar, to block the Bali main southern highway early on Friday for more than seven hours.
The villagers had earlier demanded that the men -- Putu Suastika, 23; Komang Wiantara Putra, 36; Kadek Aryana 25, and Budi, 21 -- be arrested.
All four were from neighboring Sampalan village, and worked as informal security officers at the sand mining site.
Klungkung Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Edison Panjaitan confirmed that the men were arrested after a group of Gunaksa villagers, mostly truck and public transportation drivers, interrupted the blockage late Friday afternoon.
The men are being detained for interrogation by police officials, he added.
On Thursday night the men, armed with sharp weapons tried once again tried to intimidate several Gunaksa residents. But this time, they underestimated the villagers' will to fight back.
"The angry residents sounded the traditional alarm, and in no time hundreds of people, armed with a variety of weapons swarmed the road looking for the troublemakers," Edison said.
Bali police officials immediately sent an elite Mobile Brigade unit to assist the Klungkung security personnel in averting a mass brawl on the border area between villagers in Gunaksa and Sampalan.
The Gunaksa residents then closed down the main highway creating several kilometers of backed-up traffic.
The situation was resolved after hours of intensive negotiation between leaders of the two villages, involving Edison and Klungkung Regent Cokorde Gede Ngurah.
The backed-up highway links seven regencies in southern part of Bali. It also connects the Gilimanuk harbor in West Bali with the Padangbai harbor in the east, which is the main distribution route for vehicles leading from Java to the West and East Nusa Tenggara provinces.
"We immediately re-directed the traffic the moment we knew about the blockage. Inter-province vehicles used the main northern highway to reach Padangbai harbor, while the public was told to avoid the road," Bali Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Yatim Suyatmo said on Friday evening.
The blockage significantly reduced the flow of passengers and vehicles crossing from the Padangbai seaport to the Lembar harbor in West Nusa Tenggara for 24 hours until Friday evening.
"The ferries continued to depart as scheduled, despite carrying less than six vehicles aboard each," Edi Susanto, director of the company, PT Jembatan Madura, that operates seven ferries there, told Antara.
He said that at least 16 ferries serve the route about once every hour, adding that, on normal days, each of them carry 200 passengers with 30 to 40 vehicles aboard.
Edi could not say how much the Friday incident cost his shipping company.